There’s a new development in that Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office crackdown on Hollywood managers and agencies it believes are running afoul of the state’s labor law, the Krekorian Talent Scam Prevention Act of 2009, which prohibits charging advance fees. Four talent managers have been accused of charging improper fees, the highest-profile one being Nick Roses. Now this week Roses, the one-time 21-year-old wunderkind talent manager based in Studio City, entered a no-contest plea to one count of operating an advance-fee talent representation service and one count of failing to file the proper $50,000 bond with the State Labor Commission. Judge Yolanda Orozco sentenced Roses to serve 90 days in jail or perform 45 days of Community Labor, and to 36 months probation. During that time, Roses is ordered to have no involvement with any talent training service, talent counseling service, or talent listing service anywhere, including outside the state of California. Roses also was ordered not to be involved with any “camp”, education facility, or day care facility attended by anyone under the age of 18. Failure to abide by the terms of probation will result in Roses being sentenced to at least 6 months of jail. In addition to the above, Roses is ordered to pay $10,700 in total restitution to the three complaining witnesses, and to pay $2,000 investigative costs to the City Attorney’s Office.

Deputy City Attorney Mark Lambert successfully prosecuted the case of Roses who was convicted of operating an advance-fee talent service that placed several minors at risk of harm. In January 2011, three parents contacted the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office to complain about talent manager Roses’ business practices. What happened is that, in 2010, each of the parents, all Ohio residents, met Roses at an Ohio Talent agency workshop. Roses offered to manage their children — ages 6, 13, and 14 at the time — and advised each of the parents to relocate to Los Angeles and sign up for his summer entertainment industry “boot camp”.

Each of the parents ultimately relocated to Los Angeles and paid approximately $3,000 per child toattend the August 2010 week-long “boot camp.” The parents complained the event was extremely disorganized, with participants ranging in age from 6 to 62, all randomly thrown together. Roses failed to provide adequate seating, sufficient food, water, and breaks during the 12-hour program. Many of the children became ill, including one girl who developed swollen lungs, hives and rashes.

The fascinating rise & fall of Nick Roses was chronicled by Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva. It is a story that dominated conversations among talent agents and managers for months because the youth talent manager was well-known and working for established management company Luber Roklin Entertainment. He had been running the scheme through his own company, and Luber Roklin had been unaware of Roses’ extracurricular activities. Immediately after Roses’ indictment, he was suspended by Luber Roklin. His name has since been removed from the company’s staff directory on IMDb Pro. Read more background on this case here and on the City Attorney’s investigations here and here.